Abstract:

During the Cold War, the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race escalated in pursuit of absolute security and military superiority. The “nuclear centers” were the backbone of the Soviet Union’s nuclear arms race with the United States and represented the highest level of Soviet nuclear science and technology. As the military-technical basis for the Soviet Union’s nuclear strategy against the U.S., they were closely linked to Moscow in terms of national security and high-level strategy, although they were geographically “far from Moscow”. They played an important role in nuclear research and deployment. Especially, their activities before and after the Cuban missile crisis also mapped the transition from “nuclear détente” to “nuclear balance” in U.S.-Soviet nuclear security relations in the 1960s and 1970s. Examined through the lens of this micro-level history of science and technology, the history of the U.S.-Soviet Cold War and nuclear race shows that conflict and confrontation cannot win honor for national governance, and that only by building a human community with a shared future can we share a world of universal security.

Key words: Cold War, nuclear weapons, nuclear program, nuclear arms race, Soviet nuclear centers